Atonement
by MyShipsAreLove
Summary: One Shot. Mark/Lexie. The promo for episode 5x16 left me so curious about the whole Mark/Derek fight that I decided to write a little something about it. Maybe because I hope something like this happens in fact. GA belongs to Shonda, ABC and writers.


**Hi there guys! So after I watched the promo for "An Honest Mistake" my mind just started spinning. And started imagining de whys and hows and came up with this one shot.**

**I wanted to post it before 02/19 cause the way they handle it in the episode could maybe ruin what I had in mind.**

**I hope you guys like this =) and the uptade for Moved By You will be up soon. **

**I really hope this is the way, or at least close to the way, things will end after the fight.**

* * *

When he heard those words come out of the corners of the hospital's walls a sudden heat took over him. The past hours had not been easy what with Archer's surgery and his doubting all the parasites had been removed from his brain. His surgical capacity had been doubted. And there was Jen. He had lost a patient. One which he had grown really fond of. He promised nothing would happen and yet her life was now simply gone. Vanished. And so was her baby's. It was all Addison's fault. She said she could save the baby's life. She told him he had created a monster. He put down the scalpel because Addison had said Jen's life was gone. But not the baby's. And now they were both dead. And he had had to deal with a hysterical crying husband. And why the hell was he so bothered by Addie's presence? _You love Meredith, you were going to propose to her. Just snap out of it. _Derek had had a real crappy day. Yet he was sure he had heard correctly. An angry familiar voice travel right into his ears.

"I'm so sick of all of this. So now we have to cheat in our profession as well? We're supposed to save people's lives! There is no way Lexie Grey got that medal because of her medical skills. Sloan totally meddled her way into getting it because she's sleeping with him!"

Every single word on that statement seemed like Japanese to Derek. All he could hear was _Lexie Grey. Sloan. She's sleeping with him._

It couldn't get any worse. Derek saw a lot of images in his head and that just made him more pissed.

"_Found the intern in the supply closet. Did not invite the intern into the supply closet."_

"_Don't do anything"_

"_I didn't"_

"_Don't"_

"_I didn't"_

_*_

"_That Lexie Grey sure knows how to wrap herself around a suture"_

_"Mark, Meredith has some concerns...Apparently Lexie is fragile and getting involved with a superior..."_

"_I was talking about her sutures"_

_*_

"_I thought I could trust you"_

"_Of course you can trust me"_

*

A force drove Derek through Seattle Grace's corridors. He couldn't see anything around him. Images of Mark assuring him he could be trusted and voices saying _Sloan. Lexie. Sleeping._ took over his mind. People around him looked uneasy. What is that hate expression in our neurosurgeon's face? They jumped out of the way while Derek walked as if he were in a soccer field with no obstacles ahead of him.

Mark had been looking for Derek for almost fifteen minutes now. _Finally _he thought when he spotted Derek at the end of the corridor. His mistake was to not really _look_. He simply saw it was Derek and turned his attention back to his chart. They would meet half way. If he had taken the time to stare at his friend he would have noticed Derek's expression of loathe. But he did have a great peripheral vision and when he spotted Derek from the corners of his eyes he opened his mouth to start talking.

"Hey…"

But Mark never got close to finishing the sentence. All he could see was Derek's fist flying in the direction of his nose. Before he could process he was flat on the floor. _Ouch_. His nose hurt like hell and that made his eyes fill instantly with water.

"Wha…"

Another unfinished sentence. Now his right eye got all the impact of Derek's angry punch. Mark's head hit the corner of the balcony's safety as a third punch hit him full on the jaw.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mark hit Derek as hard as he could in self defense.

People started gathering around. Widened eyes. Gasping breaths. Hands covering mouths. And silence. All everyone could hear was those two men wrestle.

Mark never heard a word out of Derek's mouth. All he got was fists in his face. And another and another.

"Stop that right now" the Chief's appalled voice called. He was followed by Hunt. Richard grabbed Derek's biceps and pulled him far away from Mark. Derek still flung his fists in the air but missed as the Chief pulled him even further. Owen didn't have to pull Mark away. He was just trying to make sure their plastic surgeon remained standing.

Derek faced Mark with a perforating look. "You disgust me. Why _her_ when I specifically asked you not to? What are you trying to proof here? If it is that you're the biggest waste of a friendship congratulations, you did it!"

He tried to get to Mark again but was stopped.

"Hunt, take Dr. Sloan to the 1st floor, now!"

Richard pushed Derek ahead so he would come with him.

"My office, Shepherd."

Everyone remained staring. They could not believe their eyes. Mark Sloan had bruises all over his face and the corners of his nostrils and lips were actually slightly bleeding. Mark felt miserable. Derek had found out about Lexie and had beaten the crap out of him for that. Not to mention his friendship and loyalty had been lowered to scum. He was in so much pain and not just the physical one.

*

Lexie was resting with some interns in the locker room when another came rushing through the door.

"You guys! You are not going to believe what just happened! Shepherd just beat the hell out of Sloan in the east wing. The whole floor stopped to see. He took the man down."

The smile that had been in Lexie's face about something Graziella had said vanished.

"What?" she tried to look as casual as possible.

"Dude it was like epic! Sloan was in the ground. Literally! I'm not sure why it happened but looks like Sloan got to Derek's woman. Again. He said something about _her_."

Lexie gasped. "Hm, do you know where they took him?" she tried not to show concern.

"I think the Chief told Hunt to take Sloan to the 1st floor."

Lexie glanced at her watch. "Darn. My time's up. See ya" she rushed out of the room.

Lexie was running through the corridors in agony. 101, 102, 103, 104, 105. Little girl, little boy, woman, old lady, teenager. Where was Mark? She finally got to room 123 and almost cried in relief when she saw that scene through the blinds. She opened the door to see Callie doing something around Mark's nose.

"Good" Callie said when she took a glance at Lexie.

Mark on the other hand rolled his eyes and faced the other way. "No, please don't".

"Mark" Callie warned. "You need her here. You want her here, OK?"

Callie walked to Lexie and explained the situation. "His nose is not broken. He will just have to use this iron support for a few weeks. But everything should be OK. I'm just going to call someone to take care of the wounds."

"I can do it" Lexie said in a begging tone.

"OK" Callie nodded. "If there is anything you don't know how to do let me know." She squeezed Lexie's shoulder and left the room.

Lexie stood still. Mark looked miserable. She was so sad about what she was seeing. His right eye was black. His face had bleeding bruises all over it and his eyes were filled with sorrow.

She walked closer and sat on the chair beside him. Mark was still facing the other side. Lexie reached for Mark's hand and noticed his knuckles were reddened. She squeezed his hand being very careful not to hurt him even more.

"Mark?" her voice was failing.

"I didn't want you to see me like this"

Lexie could see it was difficult for him to speak.

"Shh" she kissed his sore knuckles softly. "Don't be silly."

"He found out. Derek. I don't know how but he did. And he wouldn't even talk to me. He wouldn't even let me explain. He just attacked me" Mark said sadly.

"Stop talking. It's hurting you" Lexie said kindly.

She reached for the supplies that were beside his bed. She put the gloves on and dived the round-shaped cotton into the antiseptic bottle.

"This might hurt a little" she placed the cotton on top of one of his wounds as gently as she could. Mark shut his eyes. Lexie noticed he was gripping into the blanket in which he was lying.

She took his hand and offered it in exchange. When she resumed putting the cotton over his wounds she felt him tightening his hands around hers.

"I'll do it slower" she removed what was causing him pain away from his face.

"It burns" Mark said with a raspy voice.

Lexie carefully moved to another bruise and touched it with the medicine once more. Mark exhaled. Lexie quickly stopped and moved her face close to his blowing the area she had just worked on trying to get the burning to stop.

"That helps?" she asked.

"A little" Mark smiled.

She smiled back and stared into his eyes. She tried hard to be strong for him. "It's OK, you're going to be OK"

When she finished sterilizing the bruises she informed him with happiness. "Phase one is over. You made it through it"

Lexie got up to get more supplies from the table next to them. She sat again and started bandaging Mark's face. Mark watched as she carefully and thoroughly placed every band-aid and bandage into his wounds and scratches.

When all the work was done Lexie got a slightly wet towel and gently caressed Mark's face.

As she was doing that Derek was just walking by outside. Since the blinds were open he clearly saw the whole scene. His first impulse was to go inside and yell at Mark but as he observed a little more he couldn't help but be curious about what he was witnessing.

Lexie was still running the wet towel through Mark's face.

"You're all set" she smiled putting all she had used aside.

She kissed his temple really slow and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you very much. Thank you for taking care of me…just…thank you" Mark said.

"Don't mention it"

Mark started playing with Lexie's hair with his right hand and with his left he intertwined their fingers.

Derek kept watching in amazement.

Lexie moved from her position, sitting up. "You must be tired" she said sweetly. "I'm not the one who has to be spoiled"

"What?" Mark asked.

"Go to sleep" she whispered.

Mark laughed. "It doesn't work that way"

"OK, then" Lexie placed her hand behind his neck and started caressing his nape. She knew from previous occasions that place gave him rest.

"Not fair" Mark tried to protest.

"Shh" Lexie giggled.

Mark closed his eyes as Lexie continued to caress the upper back of his neck.

She heard a noise at the door. When she looked at it she saw Derek. An involuntary rush of adrenaline took over her body for one second. She knew he wasn't going to do anything but she couldn't help but stand up protectively.

"I just wanted a little word with him" Derek said nicely.

"I think he's asleep"

"That's OK"

Lexie walked to the door so she could leave them alone.

"No. Stay, stay!" Derek informed.

Lexie stopped beside the door.

Derek approached Mark and sighed. He felt worse than bad.

"Look man I know sorry probably means nothing coming from me now but I am truly and sincerely sorry. I understand if you never want to talk to me again but I just wanted you to know that what I said is bull. I'm the crappy friend. You are the best friend anyone could ever ask for. One shouldn't go through life without knowing Mark Sloan. You make everybody's lives better. I would really like for this friendship to continue but, like I said, you have every right to never want to look at me again. I just wish you didn't. I love you, man"

Lexie couldn't fight the tears any longer. All she had kept inside while treating Mark just went out as she witnessed that scene.

Derek turned to her.

"I'm sorry" he said with all the sincerity in the world.

Lexie just smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, Lexie"

Derek smiled uneasily and contemplated them for a little longer. He sighed and left the room without saying a word.

When Lexie approached the bed Mark opened his eyes.

"You're awake?"

Mark nodded.

"Oh" she paused for a second "So…"

Mark knew what she was about to ask.

"Eventually. I just couldn't deal with it right now"

Lexie sat next to him. "Take your time" she stroked his hair.

Mark moved to the bed's left and patted the free space next to him as if telling Lexie to join him. She climbed into bed and they both succumbed into sleep while holding each other.

*


End file.
